Simone Inzaghi has asked for calmness and consistency from his group of Inter players when they travel to Bergamo to face Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Nerazzurri coach opted against giving a pre-match press conference, with the team’s attention fully focussed on Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash, but did speak briefly to the club’s internal media channels after training on Friday.
Inter played Atalanta on three occasions in the 2022-23 season and came out victorious on all of those occasions, but only by a margin of one goal in each game. Inzaghi knows that Saturday’s game will not be an easy ride against Serie A’s fourth-placed side.
“It will be a demanding match,” Inzaghi said on Friday. “We know Atalanta have done well for years, they have an excellent coach and are an excellent club, one that is also achieving good results in the league. We will have to keep our concentration very high.
“All aspects are very important: we will have to keep the calmness we have had in the last few games in Bergamo tomorrow as well, we are facing a team that has both technical and physical qualities.
“In the last few games we have done well on a defensive level. Tomorrow the boys will be under pressure and we will have to be good at fighting it together at some stages of the game, because we know the strengths of our opponent.”
Statistically, Inter have won more duels than any other side in Europe so far this season with a success rate of 56%. Atalanta are not far behind them on 50%. Inzaghi was then asked if this meant that the team’s were in for a physical affair at the weekend.
“Absolutely yes,” he replied. “The data is important. Two physical teams will meet tomorrow, it will be an excellent match on a pitch, but it will be anything but simple.
“The match is going to be stimulating, we know this clearly. Atalanta have conceded very few goals and not a single one at home, they are putting a lot of attention into their defence, but they have always been a team that doesn’t concede a lot. We will have to be good in this regard.”
Inzaghi was also asked about his impression on summer acquisition Marcus Thuram, who has been establishing a fine partnership up front alongside Lautaro Martinez.
“Marcus has been great, since the beginning of the season, all the boys have been working very well. It’s ‘we’ and not ‘I’.
“They are all working very well together as a group. Marcus has inserted himself in the best possible way thanks to everyone’s help, and in my opinion, he still has room for improvement. He must continue to grow, as he is doing every day when he comes in for training.”